Brandon Schroeder

Staff Writer

From new equipment to new fields and stadiums, the world of sports is constantly evolving. However, in recent years, one change has become quite prominent: the relationship between college and high school sports. From recruiting to transferring, high school sports are constantly being affected by the sports landscape.

“In the professional ranks it’s about making a superteam because it’s the easiest way to win a championship,” Reynolds Athletic Director Bradley Fisher said. “It’s trickled its way down to youth sports.”

With the ability to transfer in college and request a trade to join a “superteam” in the professional world, it’s never been easier to leave losing organizations and join contenders. For high schoolers in Forsyth County, they have school choice which allows them to choose where they want to go to school. This ability has caused kids to leave their current schools to go to a different school to find more success and potentially win more. While school choice isn’t always used for athletics, it has become more popular to leave schools for athletics, which has had effects on high school teams.

“If you have a sport that is successful, then having this policy opens it up to other people to be a part of the program because it’s successful,” Fisher said. “If you have a program that struggles, it’s very hard to build.”

The main reason people transfer is to try and get scholarships to play in college. This can happen at any point in a person’s high school career. Many people see teams consistently winning and getting lots of attention when they win, so they want to go there to get more looks from colleges. Some people come into schools with less success for more opportunities to play and more opportunities to start.

“When you have players coming in and leaving it is a project to fit your pieces where they best go to help our team maximize its potential from year to year,” RJR Football Coach Joe Davidyock said. “I have been on both sides of this in different places I have been. Those who leave, you hope the best for them. Those who come in, you better earn your trust with our staff and players before you expect anything to be given to you.”

College recruiting has seen its fair share of changes which has also affected the transferring in high school sports. Colleges allow student athletes to redshirt in their freshman year which allows them to practice with the team, but also keeps them from playing. If a player decides to redshirt, colleges allow that player to still have 4 years of eligibility to play. Due to COVID-19, college players were given a bonus year of eligibility which has allowed for some college players to play for 6+ years. It has had an effect on high school player recruiting because colleges have become more likely to stick with the players they have had for the last couple of years, rather than searching for younger talent.

“The COVID years that were granted to the college players have had an effect on roster numbers,” Davidyock said. “There was a player that was granted a 9th year in college athletics. Those are issues we have to deal with as high school coaches getting our players seen by colleges.”

Another effect on high school sports is many student-athletes have dreams of going to play for Division I colleges. Many people believe that colleges will only look at you if you are winning games and are a state championship-caliber team. The truth is all colleges from D1 to JUCO (National Junior College Athletic Association) and NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) are actively looking for kids.

“Colleges find you if you are a good enough athlete,” Fisher said. “Just winning doesn’t get you scholarships and opportunities. Colleges find kids at every school. We have college coaches that come through here all the time. It doesn’t matter what your record is.”

For Reynolds, open enrollment and school choice have helped and hurt us. Reynolds has had kids come in and immediately help in making impacts. However, Reynolds has also had athletes leave, which has affected the growth of teams that have been together for only a few months which then affects the development of sports programs.

“It takes a complete buy-in from every single person in our building to our community,” Davidyock said. “Until that happens here, the open enrollment will continue to be the obstacle in our way to becoming a formidable program in Forsyth County.”